Peterg phototuthographer



gleiten tstrs. datent @Hiss Letters Patent Nb. 76,416, dated April 7,ISGS.

IMPROVED APPARATUS POR RAISING SUNKEll VESSELS.

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TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN Be it known that I, COUNT ARTHUR DILLoN, ofParis, in the Empire of France, have invented a new and improvedApparatus for Raising Sunken Vessels; and I do herebydeelare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which willenable those s'k'illed in the art to make and use tho same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, formingpart of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1 is a plan of the pneumatic shell.

FigureQ is a longitudinal section of air-cylinder.

.Figure `3 isa modification of ig'. 2.

Figure 4 is a plan of pontoons in position. v

Figure 5 isa longitudinal vertical section of my improved pontoonthrough'the'lineffcf, iig. l..

Figure 6 is a cross-section through the line y y', rig. 1. I

Figure 'l' is a diagram of the chains.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts `in the gures1, 2,*and 3, collectively, and 4, 5, and 6, collectively,

This invention'relates to certain improvements in pontoons for raisingsunken or grounded vessels; and consists in constructing the pontoonswith an internal cylinder, having pistons, by the action of which thedisplacement of the pontoon is augmented or diminished, and thus theraising and sinking of the pontoons is effected;` also providing thesaid poutoons with ballast-compartments, having trap-bottoms fordischarging the ballast, together with other devices, perfecting thewhole apparatus, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

. In figs. 4, 5, and 6,1'th`e pontoons, A, are long, keelless vessels,and may be built of wood orplate iron. The compartments B are located.oneach side of a central cylinder, C, and are furnished with hingedbottoms or traps, D, which are hinged at d, and held closed by links orrods e. These links are attached to eye-bolts in thebottoms D, and theirupperl ends have eyes, z', for slipping on to pins p, projecting fromlong rodem, running foreand aft on the deck of the pontoon, near the'inboard edges of the compartments B. These rods nt have' securebearings, qt, bolted to thedeck, as shown. Larger and longer arms, P,projecting from the -side opposite those otp of the same rod m, serve tohold the arms A7J irmly horizontal, and thus enable them to support thebottoms D; for. the rods mhave a partial rotationY in their bearings,whereby, when the pinsp are deflected downward by the partial rotationo'f thesaid rods, the eyes of the links e slip o from the said pins p,and the bottoms a-re liberated and permitted to swing downward, anddischarge their ballast.'

One or both rows of compartments may be emptied. '.lhe'former ease issometimes requisite, to alter the centre of gravity when the pontoon isto be keeled over or otherwise brought out of trim, the better toaccommodate the pontoon to the position of the wreck'. v

The arms P are held in position'by a horizontal bolt, Pf, which passesthrough eyeebolts a, and over. the arms P, thus confining them. Chaincables, E, are attached to strong eye-bolts, f, in the stems, F, at eachend- Vof the pontoons. These chains` are rove crosswise .throughringbolts G, firmly bolted through the stems F, as shown. Thesecha'nsserve to enclose the hull or wreck to. be raised within Vthe twopoumons, as Shown in iig. 4.

Both pontoons being'enactly alike, the construction and princip'leoi`one only willb e described.-

The internal cylinder, C, is placed longitudinally within the pontoon,as shown. Pistons H flt with smooth, nirtight contact within the sectionofthe said cylinders, and canbe force'd along back and for-th in anypartei' the same by the introduction of air or gas within the cylinder,or the pressure of the water without, according as the force of eitherpreponderates. The mechanicalmode and appliances for getting thep'ontoons attached tothe grounded or sunken vessel will be hereinafterdescribed.

I will now explain the pneumatic action-of my' improvement. In iig. I,A. B C D represents a section of a metallic pontoon-shell, furnishedwith aueduction-valve, S', within a chamber, P', and an induction-valve,S, within a chamber, P. The valve S opens inward from external pressure,and the valve S opens outward from internal pressure. A set-screw, asshown, 4contines the valve S against the internal pressure. v

When this shell is to be sunk, a ring-and rope, as shown, guide theshell to its destination 20u the bottom; for the lowei` end of the ropeis to be secured to an anchor, and the rope stretched tight, whereby theshell in' sinking will, by means of the-ring attached to it, follow therope to the anchor, which would be placed suitably in contiguity to thewreck. y v v Before sinking, a quantity of air is forced into the shellthrough the chamber, P, until the pressure within thc shell is expressedby N+1, (N being the pressure in atmospheres which a body would sustainwhen immersed at the depth to which the shell is to descend.) Then,through the same chamber, a sufficient quantity of water is forced tomake the shell sink'. The shell descends, andfguidedby the rope, reachesthe wreck, to which it is secured by any means known tosubmarineengineering. The aforesaid set-screw is then turned, and thevalve, S', being thus liberated, permits the escape of the water withinthe shell,` which escape is due to the aforesaid pressure, -N-l-l. Whenthe said water is ejected, the shell ascends to the surface, and,it`made sutiiciently large, will bring with it the wreck. Y

The method just describen 1s attende-:l with some diiiicultics, as,first, the great thickness'of the metal required 'in a shell of largediameter te sustain the desired pressure; second, the diiiiculty offorcing water into a bulk of highly-compressedair. A I v To obviatethese diiiieultics, and render thisprinciple more practically available,a pontoon provided with an internal cylinder is adopted, and the saidcylinder` to have movable pistons and other connections, as shown atigs. 2er S, where P and l)l are the pistons, SS val-:cs in the same,opening outwards, E Fa chamber connectingwith the cylinder at somecentral point ol1A the same, by means of the pipe 0 Tand cock R.Opposite to this pipe is another, lettered H G, provided withra cock, X.i l

Within the chamber E are placed chemicals for 0c ncrating gas, asbicarbonate of soda and snlphuric acid, which materials, thou-ghcomparatively small in bulk, will evolve by their chemical reaction agas of great expansive tension. v-

The ends of the pontoouarcopen, as shown at m 1t' m" it', fig. 2, andalso as exhibited,.unlettercd, in the drawingof gs. 5 and G, whereby thewater caifcxert its pressure directly upon the pistons.

When the pontoon is ready for snbmerging, the cocks X and Pt are closed,andthe pistons are at the extremities of the cylinder, Theballast-compartments are duly filled with stone, and the cock, X,opened. The displacement ot thcpontoon is diminished by the recessionofthe pistons, which 'yield to the pressure of the water,

and are brought finally in contact with each other in the middle of thecylinder. The pontoon having sunk to some desired position contiguous tothc wreck, it is attached thereto by means of the chains, beforedescribed,

" and thc sponson-timbcrs T on the exterior ofthe pontoons, (see iigs. 6and 7.) When allis ready, the cock R,

communicating with thc generating-chamber EF, iigs.,2 and 3,is opened..The sulphuric acid'is then,- by suitable device, brought in contactwith thc bicarbonatev ot' soda,and the gas evolved enters-the cylinderand vdrives thc pistons'outward again, thus increasing the displacementof the pontoon,wh ich, having dischargedits n ballast by themcchanismbefore shown, rises to the surface, bringingwith it the -wrcck to whichit was attached. Atmospheric air maybe substituted for anychemically-evolved `gases, and pumped into `the cylinder at some middlepoint, as the pipo O T. -it will force out the pistons, and produce thesame effect as above shown by the gas.

The 'pistons are formed with iianges, as shown in the gs. 2, 3,5, and 6,so `that their inner surfaces shall not comcccmpletely in contact, butleave u space for the ingress ofthe gas or air that is to actuate themoutward. Any mechanical device, as a ring or projection pla-ced withinthe cylinder at its middle point, will prevent -thc passage of eithervpiston beyond the middle, if by friction the other piston is retardedfrom reaching the middle position ofthe cylinder contemporaueously withthe first.

In order to maintain the equilibrium of both the internal and externalpressure, the pistonsP P', fig. 2, are provided with ,valvcs,;,S S',opening from' within outwards, so as to let thc gas within escape, ifits pressure exceeds. that of the water without, wlien` t he pistonshave reachcdthefends of the cylinder. Each pontoon contains such acylinder substituted for the shcllshowu atsiig. 1, in which water andcompressed air were introduced. The principle is still the same, theonly diffcrcncebeing the separation of thc-two uids (gas and water) by asolid medium acting as a piston.

Fig. 3 exhibits amodiiicationlot the cylinder for the purpose ofproducing a. lesser volume of gas.- A B is a secondary cylinder withinthe iii-st. This is completely closed, and its purpose will now b cdescribed. Supposeit is required to sink the pontoon to a depthof'fii'ty yards, at which a body sustains an external pressure of aboutsixv atmospheres. I make the secondary cylinder of such thickness aswill.sustain an external pressureof threel atmospheres. I then compressair or gas within thc-cylinder to a tension of three atmospheres, whichgives the aggregate resistance of six atmospheres. The pipes from tlregcneratinglchamberextend beyond the secondary cylinder, as shown at iig.3. Previous to the immersion, the excess of the internal strain over theexternal pressure will be two atmospheres, but as the cylinder sinksdown, the external pressure increases, until', at about twenty yards,the internal and external pressure will be in equilibrio. Beyond thispoint the external exceeds the internal pressure, and at a depth otfifty yards -it exceeds it by three atmospheres, which was the force forwhich the'said cylinder was constructed. i v A l By this device I amenabled topartially replace the metallic by the gaseous resistance, andat the same time t0 employ a much less heavy and yet quite as muchresisting cylinder. Incase this constant cylinderA B is used, theballast in the pontoon should equal in weight that of the volume ofwater displaced by this'cylinder, so as'to render the immersionpossible.

In the employment of these pontoons for recovering sunken vessels, oneor more ropes, each'having one end.

suitably fixed at the wreck, und the other on bourdthe tug-boat or boatsare employed in the work. These ropes serve as guides when the pontoonsare sunk, as before described. The pontoons are brought to embrace thewreck in the manner shown at figs. 4 and 6. The ballast is discharged,and the chemicals employed in the generating-chamber brought intointimate contact. vThe gas thus evolved augmente the displacenient of"the pontoohs, as before shown,and they rise to the surface, `bringingwith them the wreck.

Mechanism for discharging the ballast', opening the cocks, and bringingabout the chemical action, can he arranged, so as to be operated fromthe surface by lines or ropes, or from diving-bells sunk on er near thewreck or pontoons. p

A flexible pipe, E, communicates with the compressed gas or air withinthe cylinder, for the purpose of clearing the pontoon or Wreck from thesand which may drift and impinge against its sides when remained sunkfor a time in a. tidal or other current. `By means of the cock R thepressure can bc liberated, and the pipe, as shown, directed againstthejunction ofthe sand and sides ofthe Wreck or pontoon. This action canbeassistcd by the explosion of a'ny proper, amount of nitro-glycerine ata distance from the wreck. The surge or undulation thus producedwill actto loosen both or either from the sand in which it is partiallyembedded, by the surges impact against the exposed broadside' surface. u

The advantages of this improvement consist in its simplicity, facilityof practical application, and the thorough accomplishment of the purposeintended in a short space of time, and at a comparatively small cost.

I claim as new,land desire tosecu-re by Letters Patentl i 1. Theballast-compartments B, with the hinged traps D, for discharging theballastfrom a submerged pontoon,` substantially as and for the purposeshown and described.

2.V The apparatus, as shown and described, consisting of a cylinder,with pistons and generating-chamber,

for employing the buoyant force for raising the pontoon after it hasbeen carried down in a latent state, all substantially as shoivn anddescribed.

' CTE. A. DILLON.

Witnesses DEMOS.

A. GrUIoN

